When the option to use Spamcop is it checks the Spamcop blacklist to block spammers. Their service does not require any special access or API keys. Just check the box to use Spamcop and everything is in place. This is done with a DNS query just like the Project Honeypot service. The only thing done on the backend is a query to your local DNS server.

Another function of this plugin is to monitor bad logins and 404 errors. You can set the maximum for both of these before an IP gets blocked, how long the IP will be blocked, and the amount of time the user has to reach the limit.

When a visitor is blocked an HTTP status code is returned. By default it is a 503 error so that it looks like your site has gone down. You can set the status code to a number of other codes if you want.